Austrian leaders yesterday set out the agenda for their presidency of the European Union at a time when there are signs that European leaders are recovering confidence after an exceptionally difficult year.
Their plan to revive debate on the constitutional treaty, passed so far by 12 states but rejected by French and Dutch voters, looms largest on the list. Reviving employment and economic growth among the EU25 is also a prominent concern. Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel said it would be furthered if the EU services directive is agreed by next June. Promoting these objectives is a tricky task for Austrian ministers, given the Eurosceptical mood among their own electorate. But they are fortunate to have had the EU budget row settled last month under the outgoing UK presidency, which allows the Austrians to make a clean start.
Last June EU leaders agreed that a year-long pause for reflection is required on what to do about the constitutional treaty, following its rejection in France and the Netherlands. That this was all pause and little or no reflection for the last six months was a collective as well as a British preference. It now falls to the Austrians to stimulate a debate on the choices available.
Four main options are being floated: that the constitution be abandoned altogether, a position put mainly by Eurosceptics but supported by the UK and Dutch governments; that it be cherry-picked for its best ideas by an emerging hard core group of states, as several EU leaders advocate; that it be substantially redrafted and renegotiated, as supported by a variety of activists; and that the ratification process should proceed and the question be put again to the French and Dutch, if necessary with minor additions, as advocated by German chancellor Angela Merkel and several other leaders.
Austrian ministers are to travel to Paris and The Hague to assess the mood there and they plan to stimulate a broad discussion on what is the best way forward in coming months. Pressure of domestic, European and world events has reminded political leaders how much they need the co-operative framework of the EU to solve political problems and how the constitution would improve that process. They are now much more aware of the need to bring public opinion and citizens with them. But having proved ineffective advocates of institutional reform they remain wary of engaging in another debate.
That is one good reason why commission president José Manuel Barroso insisted yesterday that progress must be made on employment and growth if citizens' trust in the EU as an effective entity is to be restored. But he and the national leaders face a major challenge if they rely mainly on a revived services directive to do this job over the next six months. As we have seen in Ireland over the issue of job displacement, greater freedom of labour movement creates fears about job security as well as opportunities for economic growth. Finding the right balance between them is a daunting task for the Austrians.